The chief industry of the State is farming, which engages about a third of the population. The value of farm prop erty is double the capital in manufacturing and about one-half of the total assessed valuation of all property in the State. About one-half of the lands are in farms, of which about two thirds are improved. Of the half not in farms. about one-half would make good farm land. Less than one-fifth of the upper peninsula is in farms, with about 12 per cent of the total farm ing population of the State In the lower pen insula, nine-tenths of the farms and 70 per cent of the farm population is south of the lati tude of the northern boundary of Midland County. In general, Michigan lands produce many kinds of crops on each farm, contributing about half of the total value. Corn is the lead ing crop, raised mainly in the southern part of the lower peninsula; only a few hundred acres are raised in the upper peninsula and in the northern third of the lower peninsula only about as much as in any one of the better south ern counties. The wheat crop is second and has been decreasing since 1900, the yield is only about one-fifth that of Minnesota. Wheat raising tends to concentrate in the central part of the lower peninsula. Oats rank third in the State. The hay crop, chiefly clover and tim othy, is widely distributed and yields about one fourth of the total value of farm crops. A great variety of vegetables are raised, in large quantities. Michigan leads in beans and peas. The estimated output of beans in 1918 was 4,887,000 bushels, valued at $24,435,000. Owosso is the centre of the bean area. The pea belt in cludes the northeast and east central parts of the lower peninsula. The west central part of the peninsular has the largest crops of potatoes, in which Michigan ranks third.
The following table shows the acreage, yield and yield per acre of corn, potatoes, sugar beets and hay and forage for the year 1918: Grain and seed threshed in Michigan up to and including 25 ran. 1919, per returns of threshermen, is as follows: -- - On the muck lands are raised large quantities of celery, chicory and peppermint, in the pro duction of which Michigan is the leading State. In the vicinity of Kalamazoo are the most fa mous celery beds in the Union. Southwestern Michigan is the chief source of peppermint for the world. Of Michigan farms, more than four-fifths are cultivated by the owners. Less than 5 per cent are operated by cash tenants and about 11 per cent by share tenants. The following table shows the general development Michigan farming by decades since I460.
Fruit-growing.— The principal orchard products are peaches and apples, but large quantities are raised of pears, plums, cherries and grapes. They are quite uniformly distrib uted over the southern half of the State. Of peaches and grapes, more delicate varieties are raised, in larger quantities, in the 'fruit belt? extending along the Lake Michigan shore, north as far as the Grand Traverse region. There, more attention can be given, where the lighter soil makes the raising of more reliable crops less profitable; a strong demand is present in the markets of Chicago and Milwaukee, easily and quickly reached by lake steamers; the con centration of the industry favors better organ ization as to methods of culture and market ing; the presence of Lake Michigan, tempers ((cold diminishing danger from killing frosts, lengthens the growing season and in creases the humidity. In this belt are raised large crops of strawberries, blackberries, rasp berries and currants, in which Michigan ranks second among the States. In the production of peaches, Michigan ranks with Ohio, Pennsyl vania and New York, and is a leading State in the production of cherries.
Stock Farming and Horses, dairy cows, sheep, swine and fowls are the chief domestic animals raised in Michigan. In
the production of wool, the State ranks second only to Ohio, east of the Mississippi.
On 1 Jan. 1918 there were in Michigan 1,926, 000 sheep, 680,000 horses, 874,000 milch cows, 752,000 other cattle and 1,372,000 hogs. The dairy interests are rapidly increasing. Of 1,497,823 cattle in 1910, about one-half were dairy cattle. This industry is mainly in south ern Michigan, though the upper peninsula is well adapted to the raising of dairy herds. The industry supports 350 creameries, 8 condens aries and 150 cheese factories, located chiefly in rural centres. In butter and cheese mak ing, the Hollanders have made Ottawa the leading county of the State. In general dairy products, Michigan ranks about equal with Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Cheese making is falling off in Michigan, with the in crease of creameries and condensaries to sup ply the demand for milk and cream in rapidly growing cities.
Number Milk produced on farms 352,838,180 gaL.
Butter made on farms and in factories 85.917,185 Its.
Cheese made on farms and in factories 13,673.336 lbs.
Lumbering and Forestry — Of the prod ucts of the soil, Michigan's forests have been one of the most important sources of her ma terial wealth. The great variety and abundance of both hard and soft woods has made it a lead ing State in lumber and in timber products. Roughly, the forests originally presented two strongly marked divisions, separated by the 43d parallel of latitude; the pine and soft woods were north, the hard woods south. South of this latitude, the principal fanning area, the vicissitudes of early settlement rap idly and permanently destroyed the forests, ex cepting woodlots. which now aggregate one or two townships per county. North of this lati tude in the lower peninsula, the principal hard woods are above a line from Ludington to Os coda, and very scattered. The hard wood for ests of the upper peninsula are chiefly in the eastern part, on the rolling lands of the gla cial moraines. Pine lumbering, which reached its climax in 1890, has cut most of the white pine from the State. The present stage of lum bering is taking the hard woods and the re maining pine, mainly in the upper peninsula. Lumbering has had exceptional advantages in Michigan; the timber was massed in large stands, making large scale operations possible; and it was located mainly on large streams, down which logs could be floated to mill, and the lumber thence to the Great Lakes, by whict markets could be easily reached. The first great impulse in Michigan pine lumbering came with the opening of an eastern market, due to the exhaustion of eastern forests and the de velopment of railroads; the growth of Chicago and the settlement of the prairie States fur nished a stimulus from the West. In 1890 Michigan produced 4,245,717,000 feet of him ber; since then she has dropped from first place to tenth place. Out of the lumber industry have grown most of the cities of the State above the latitude of the Saginaw Valley, which was the first great centre of pine lum bering; exceptions are Sault Sainte Marie and cities in the mining districts. The cities have now found in manufacturing a basis for per manent growth, principally in the manufacture of timber products. The following table shows the development of lumbering in Michigan since 1850: In 1903 the State set aside 34,000 acres of State lands and an annual appropriation of $7,500 for forestry purposes, now increased to $60,000 per annum, making possible extensive forest pro tection and reforestation. The State now holds 53 forest reserves aggregating about 235,000 acres, which is under the administration of the Public Domain Commission.